Hiding from the Scary Girls
by Kiddo20
Summary: In which Naruto comments that, "Nara men have pheromones that attract scary women." And Shikamaru thinks back over his life and decides he might be right...but is it just girls? Maybe it's more of a blonde thing... Next in the A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words Series. Unrelated to previous stories.


Disclaimer: Neither the characters nor the artwork are mine. This is purely a fan work and I am making no money off of the use of any material.

Image can be found at: 

Deviantart art/ Hiding-from-the-scary-girls- 165004991

Note: I don't know what it is about Nooneym –but I seem to get so much inspiration from their stuff. The majority of these one-shots have been based off of their works. Keep up the good work Nooneym!

This is also massively long. I know. I've been working on it for a while and I could have cut it so many places, but I liked it. I wanted to use it, and dammit it's my fanfiction and I'm going to use it!

Hope you enjoy it!

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: Story Eleven

Hiding From the Scary Girls

"What's it called?" Naruto muttered out of the blue as the pair gazed up at the stars, on a hill rather deep in the back property of the Nara compound.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, "You are going to have to be a little more specific than 'it'..."

"The scents that...like...animals give off that drive other animals crazy..." Naruto waved one hand in the air as though the motion would help the thought come to him easier.

"Pheromones." As the Nara clan was affiliated with an animal, though not as strongly as the Inuzuka clan was, Shikamaru nonetheless knew the answer to this question without even thinking. However, he spoke it slowly, a bit hesitantly and with enough of a delay in response to be noticeable –even by Naruto - wondering just where this conversation was heading, his eyebrows furrowing deep on his forehead and his eyes darting to the side to watch his friend carefully.

Naruto snapped his fingers and grinned, turning on his side to face the Nara fully. "That's it! Pheromones!"

Shikamaru sat up cautiously, narrowing in his gaze on the blonde. "What about pheromones...?"

Naruto chuckled a bit. "Humans are animals too right?" He started and Shikamaru felt that feeling only familiar around Naruto – that feeling of having absolutely no idea what was coming next and knowing that he would never be able to figure it out in a million years.

Slowly, Shikamaru nodded.

Naruto smirked, "So humans should give off pheromones too right?"

He felt his head tilting slightly to the side, seemingly of its own volition, as the Nara's mind raced to try and see where this conversation was heading all the while knowing that he would never get there before reality managed it on its own. "I guess..."

"So that's your problem." Naruto announced, gently poking the shadow-user on his unprotected forehead.

Shikamaru allowed his head to be pushed back a bit as his mind struggled to comprehend. Once he straightened himself and looked at his friend, he noticed that the whiskered face showed nothing but proud contentment, as though he had really figured something complex out here. Shikamaru however was still in the dark. "My problem is pheromones?" He finally asked, giving up on figuring out the answer on his own.

"Actually..." Naruto scratched his head for a moment, suddenly looking up at the quarter moon, giving the whole area a soft light. "Come to think of it...it might be a Nara men thing in general..."

Shikamaru braced his elbow on a propped up knee and rubbed his forehead in resignation, choosing to just wait it out this time. Naruto would get around to it once he managed to come up with the words. It honestly wasn't that Naruto was stupid...at least not anymore – but school hadn't really done the boy any favors. Really, Naruto just had a different way of thinking from everyone else, like he viewed the world on a different angle and could see things that normal people didn't, and schools just didn't tend to allow for much leeway there. That much Shikamaru could understand, having a different way of viewing the world himself allowed him to strategize as well as he did. Shikamaru sort of viewed the world from above, being able to take in all the different actions of people at once because, to his mind, they are _all_ directly in front of him. Naruto seemed to see the world from the sidelines as a bench rider – having grown up there, always on the outside looking in –and it allowed him to see a bit of both sides. Naruto's interesting world view came in handy too – so long as you were patient enough for him to find a way to explain in words what just seems so perfectly clear and obvious in his own mind.

That however, made him difficult to comprehend at times and having been made aware of it by an exasperated Sakura, he was trying to work on it and think before he blurted things out. Though, given the topic of this entire conversation it would appear that he still required a bit of work in that area.

"You Nara men..." Naruto smirked again and Shikamaru felt the corner of his mouth twitch as though preparing to join the other in his mirth, even though he knew it was going to be at his own expense. "Nara men have pheromones that attract scary women." Naruto finally said after another moment of silence and a distinct nod of his head as though he had imparted some sagely wisdom and was then agreeing with himself.

For a moment Shikamaru just stared at his fellow ninja. Knowing that the conversation had reached the point that he had given up on foreseeing, he began tracing the conversation backward instinctively to try and see where this thought had originated. He was interrupted however, when a laugh bubbled up from deep in his gut. His mind concurring that the blonde had a point before even really understanding what exactly the point was. It was a strange feeling that seemed to just be a run of the mill emotion around the blonde.

Shikamaru wrapped his arms around his middle as he fell over onto his side laughing. A full, hearty laugh without worry or care. The kind of laugh that a baby makes at thin air leaving the parent to wonder why the child was cackling manically but unable to tear the smile from their face after hearing the robust sound.

He had to concede though, that Naruto had a point.

It was a well-known and acknowledged fact that Nara men tended to be incredibly lazy people. Nor was this a recent phenomenon – this dated back to before the formation of the hidden villages when they were just one of many clans that existed within a bloodthirsty system of kill or be killed. They flitted around the edges of the pack, never taking the main stage and therefore never being a clan that was targeted by a temporary alliance of other clans like the Senju or Uchiha clans, for example, had tended rather often to be.

That was all well and good though, because they didn't need big trouble out on the battlefield, because they could find more than enough of it at home.

Year after year, generation after generation, son after father, the men of the Nara clan would bring strong-willed, occasionally obstinate, women into the clan as their wives. These were never arranged marriages or the result of some new alliance – no that was way too much effort with too great a possibility of a horrible payoff. No, the Nara clan men had always been able to select spouses of their choosing, of course so long as the women choose them back.

Maybe it had something to do with how easily they grew bored with the situations around them so they actively sought out partners who would keep their lives interesting.

That or perhaps they were masochists.

Or a combination thereof.

Really it didn't matter in the end because it was a fact: Nara men would forever be surrounded by "troublesome women." A phrase also passed down through the generations – so at least Shikamaru had come by its usage honestly.

Shikamaru learned of this failing of the Nara men to choose average women from an early age. He quickly learned how he could get away with almost anything when it came to his father but his mother was another story. She demanded the perfection of _appearance_ if nothing else. He swore that she delighted in seeing the Nara men squirm.

The boy's room was always tidied, and his bed was straightened immediately upon waking, before he even had the time to complete his morning pee break, which honestly should be a crime – that's freakin' nature! But his mother was a harder force of nature to endure than pangs against his bladder for a few minutes each morning. His clothing was always put away immediately when clean, and immediately into the designated hamper when dirty, and his hygiene was easily the best of the young boys of Konoha with an uncontested shower every night, even cleaning behind his ears.

Because Shikamaru knew that it would be better for him to just do what she told him than raise her ire by fighting it.

This was how he came to understand the word troublesome.

His first interaction with a girl outside of his own family was the daughter of one of his father's old teammates. Ino Yamanaka exemplified everything that his mother had taught him about women: they were loud, annoying and nothing but trouble. Also, that it was better to just go along with her and do what she wanted without raising a fuss or he would be subjected to even more loud and annoying screeching.

And it was hard to relax when you are being screeched at, and all he wanted to do was relax and be allowed to look at the clouds.

Not too long after meeting Ino for the first time, he came across Chouji Akimichi when he was out one day, heading to one of his favorite cloud watching spots. The calm manner of their introduction and continued friendship taught him something else.

Women and girls were troublesome. Men and boys could be okay.

Not all males, his teachers could be annoying and his father was just weird, and Kiba's annoyance levels were topped only by Naruto's while they were in school. But there was a part of his mind that understood why the males acted as they did so it didn't reach quite the levels of troublesome that daily encounters with his mother or Aunts did.

Repeated encounters with the Uchiha fangirls during his school days reinforced the idea that it was possibly a _genetic_ thing that women were crazy – because how could they be so fanatical about an asshole? Except Hinata…but her eyes gave him the creeps…the veiny bulges that would spread away towards her hairline when she activated it – he'd had nightmares after he saw it in action for the first time. Creepy. Just creepy.

Powerful yes.

But still creepy.

When they graduated he was grateful that only one woman was on his team. Though she was troublesome enough to make Shikamaru groan at the mere thought of seeing her sometimes. He'd never tell her that though…it would never be worth the argument that he would hear if she had ever found out that he thought that.

And then there was Temari, Gaara's older sister and a permanent pain in Shikamaru's ass it seemed after she had been promoted to chuunin. She had to help bail him out on his first mission as a leader. And he got stuck as her damn escort around the hidden leaf _every time_ she visited the village – his services being specifically requested because the sadistic blonde seemed to love to torment the Nara. The only reason he didn't deny these requests was because Tsunade, the Hokage, yet _another_ troublesome woman in his life had assigned it to him as a damn mission.

A mission.

Shikamaru had desperately wanted a cigarette after she dropped that one, but he had promised Naruto that he would stop smoking and so while his lungs burned with the memory of the delicious acrid smoke and his fingers twitched, dying to reach for a pack of cigarette that no longer took up residence inside of his flak jacket, instead he swore loudly and threw kunai angrily into the wall of the apartment until it rather resembled a pin cushion.

Naruto had come in from his own mission, scraped up but otherwise fine, and stared at the wall before quirking an eyebrow at the young man in question.

"You made me quit smoking," was all he ground out before stomping off and slamming the door shut loudly to the bathroom.

Naruto had just sighed quietly and removed the kunai from the walls. Ninjas never really expected to get the deposits back on their apartments anyway.

Shikamaru had apologized later with a bowl of ramen and a promise to take out his anger on a tree or target set next time and Naruto had never brought up the incident again.

Troublesome women seemed to come out of the woodwork around Shikamaru though and he almost thought that there was some god or goddess up above who had decided to play a round with his precariously perched sanity.

Because seriously – even Shiho, the occularly impaired cryptologist herself, had confessed to him and seemed to think that she was just approaching it wrong or something because whenever he'd try to turn her down she would think she just needed to try a different approach to capture his heart. He was struggling to think of a way to turn her down at this point that wouldn't jeopardize their working relationship in the future because he knew that they would _have to _interact just as a matter of procedure on future missions and as a part of information gathering.

He thought idly now that if things had gone a bit differently, he probably wouldn't have minded ending up with Shiho – she was an average sort of woman, and he used to think she was startlingly sane in comparison to all of the other woman that he encountered every day as a part of his job as a Konoha ninja.

At this point, Kuranai-sensei was the only sane one he could think of. Shizune maybe on a good day, but sometimes he wondered if the Hokage's brand of crazy was contagious with the way her assistant acted sometimes.

He did remember though, the first time he had thought that women were truly scary. When terror had slipped into his heart like a shard of ice that threatened to stop the muscle cold in his chest.

It was not too long after the failure of the mission to rescue Sasuke. Ino had been on a rampage against Shikamaru since the brand new chuunin had been the leader of the mission as well as only coming back with superficial injuries. He knew that the girl was really just broken up about Chouji being in the hospital and was misplacing her anger onto him, but dammit the girl was _nuts!_

She actually tried to jump into his mind after screaming "What were you thinking?!" at him after he explained why things ended up as they did. Apparently she had been determined to figure it out on her own terms even if he hadn't wanted to speak any more on the subject. He was used to failure when it didn't matter. He had failed tests all the time in school. Even bummed out on D-ranks where Ino and Chouji took up the slack and Asuma tore him a new one after. For all of those failures, they had been the times when he wasn't trying. But when it counted, when it _really_ counted, when he was throwing everything he had at the enemy and _trying_ with every fiber of his being, just like everyone else on that mission was, he failed. He failed spectacularly and Sasuke had got away and his friends had been badly hurt.

Having to get bailed out by the Sand siblings hadn't helped matters. Certainly not as they hung around afterwards and Temari seemed to like following Shikamaru around rubbing his face in it. She kept harping on the fact that he had cried. Harping on how inept he was. How maybe _she_ should have been awarded a vest instead of him because nothing like that would have ever happened on _her _watch.

And finally he had snapped. He had flipped out. Shikamaru had lost his cool and let all of that rage and self-loathing spew forth from his mouth as he unleashed all of that pent-up emotion in the form of verbal bile on the unsuspecting blonde. To this day he doesn't know what he said. In fact, he didn't even know at the time. And frankly, he didn't ever want to remember. He had a feeling that it would be horrific. Though knowledge of it might explain Temari's seemingly unstoppable plot to drive him batty during numerous escort missions around his home village.

It was like he had been trapped inside of his own head with no control over what his body did. He could see out of his eyes and saw as the teasing expression slipped off of Temari's face and a blank expression slid hard in its place. He heard her go from laughing, to huffing, to perfect silence.

And silence from a woman was terrifying.

Silence from a woman meant that they were plotting something. Silence from a woman meant that you should run. Run hard, run fast and run long and they were _still_ going to get you when you come back, but at least then you would be too tired and exhausted to care or put up much of a fight to anger them any_more_. But heaven forbid you don't run enough and they catch you, because you would be in for it a thousand times worse than before for making them put in the effort to chance you. Silence from a woman was the sign to begin groveling…and _now_. And pray. Don't forget to pray to the gods that you may be seeing soon.

And yet he had carried on. Vitriol spewing force from his mouth, dripping like acid from his tongue and it continued on. It was almost like every bit of annoyance and aggravation that he had ever experienced in his life, every time he had announced that something was troublesome or a drag, every negative emotion that he had never wanted to put the effort towards expressing in his young life had been saved in some back corner of his mind and had been unleashed upon the older girl in the streets of Konoha.

And Shikamaru could only watch as every rule that he had for his life and his interactions with women were tossed out the window as spit actually flew from his mouth while he continued, barreling forward despite better judgment.

He clenched his fists in protest against his traitorous mouth and the sudden pain and pressure of his neglected nails into his palms and the pain of his still sore finger shocked him into a full stop.

His mouth hung open, mid-word very likely, and the chuunin stared for a moment, the shock filtering into his eyes as his pupils widened and his muscled tensed in preparation for fight or flight.

But Shikamaru was back in control now – and he was heavily disposed towards flight which was exactly what he did.

He pivoted swiftly on the balls of his feet and as he launched himself skyward to hopefully land on a rooftop and scurry away, he felt a tug and knew that Temari had grabbed his outer jacket and he instantly drooped his shoulders and let his arms slink backward to face his pursuer and the offending item slipped free and Shikamaru was gone.

Shikamaru had torn off in the direction of his home, most especially because Temari didn't know where that was, and she wouldn't be permitted onto the clan grounds as a foreign shinobi even if she managed to track him there.

Foreign shinobi weren't allowed, but Yamanakas were.

And as he arrive panting into the side door of his home, ready to reach for a glass of cool water in his kitchen, or possibly just position his mouth under the open tap, he realized a glowering Ino was sitting at the table drinking tea with his amused looking mother.

He had just returned from the hospital, arrived like he was running from the devil himself (herself?) and Ino was clearly preparing a shit-fest of her own (for who knew what reason, all he knew was that he didn't need this right now), and his mother finds this _amusing_? What kind of person _does_ that?

Ino began to open her mouth but Shikamaru was already gone, shooting back out the door and taking off once more, trying to think of just where he could hide where neither Ino nor Temari would track him. Ino was practically a Nara herself with the amount of time that she had spent there growing up and the deer would totally help her to track him down if he tried to hide in the woods. So his compound was out.

Chouji was still in the hospital so he couldn't go over there to hide out, and it would be just wrong to bring this into the teen's hospital room.

Asuma-sensei was out on a mission and besides, _both_ girls would think to look for him with the jounin, the two did spend a lot of time together since Asuma was determined to beat Shikamaru at shougi one of these days.

As he sailed between rooftops, a flash of orange caught his eye.

It was Naruto, somehow up and about and without a mark on him despite having had a _freakin' arm__ thrust__ through his chest_ (which irritatingly enough, the survival of which Shikamaru hadn't figured out yet) milling about the empty grounds of the Academy.

No one would think to look for him at the Academy. Not _him._ Not the slacker who slept through most of his days doing nothing more than the absolute minimum required in order to pass the classes.

So he hopped down and hid in the shadow of the tree, fading into the background, going unnoticed by Naruto who was apparently training taijutsu and occasionally hollering up at one of the windows, "Iruka-sensei! Are you done _yet_?!"

Shikamaru smirked to himself, of course Naruto was waiting for Iruka. They would probably head over to Ichiraku Ramen where Naruto would eat his way through half of Iruka's monthly salary and the scarred chuunin would smile indulgently and just let him. Everyone pretty much let him. They knew that the blonde had endured many a night when he was younger on empty stomachs, not able to afford to buy food, not even instant ramen, at the hiked rates that shops made the town terror pay so many were inclined to help him to eat his fill now as though it would make up for the years gone by of empty stomachs and unheard pangs of hunger.

Naruto surprised the shadow-ninja then though, without even turning around he acknowledged his apparently not-so-hidden presence, "You wanna come for some ramen too Shikamaru?!"

The blonde's voice was excited and energetic, as though he hadn't just been released from the hospital. As though he hadn't just had to fight his best friend and teammate with every intension of breaking every bone in the boy's body if he had been able. As though that friend hadn't beaten him back just as ferociously and intensely.

As though that friend hadn't won in the end simply by being the one able to walk away after the fight had been rendered complete.

Shikamaru sighed in wonderment that someone like Naruto could actually exist. People like him were only supposed to appear in books and movies and works of fiction, because he defied all the rules of logic. He was treated like garbage but still could want to fight for and defend the place that had denied him any sense of belonging for the longest time. Every always told him that he couldn't and almost no one was willing to put in the effort to help the boy better himself and so he had found a way to do it all on his own, without holding it against anyone else either.

Kid was a freakin' _Saint_ in Shikamaru's book.

If all the village had to suffer was a few non-permanent pranks and occasional loud outburst…well, they deserved worse in his book so they could stuff it.

He came out from behind the tree, hands resting in his pockets and shoulders slouched. It was hard to think that anything was out of the ordinary with Naruto beaming at him as the blonde turned to see his friend. It was like there were no crazy girls on the warpath for him today. Like he hadn't seemingly lost his own mind for a few moments today and blasted his way through every rule he had ever taught himself about dealing with women.

He couldn't help it. You just want to drop everything when Naruto is around. His natural charisma calls all of the attention of everyone around him. Shikamaru never had it in him to be that affable on a daily basis – it took way too much energy and time away from things that he wanted to do. But for some reason, he could do it around Naruto. He _would_ put forth that energy around Naruto. He _would_ drop everything he could.

Later he would contemplate beating himself in the head for not seeing it sooner.

Shikamaru slinked out of the shade and up to the blonde who didn't look so antsy waiting for their old instructor now that he had someone to talk with.

"Hey Naruto…" he drawled as he reached even with the teen.

"Whatcha up to Shikamaru?" The blonde asked, his smile of welcome wide enough that he had to squint his eyes to allow room for it.

The Nara grimaced, "Hiding from the scary girls."

Naruto quirked his head to the side in momentary confusion and Shikamaru answered the question that hadn't even needed to be asked.

"I kinda…went apeshit on Temari…"

Naruto's eyes widened comically and his jaw dropped open at the audacity of his normally lazy friend.

"And you're still alive…?" The blonde's voice was soft and awe-filled, the same that one might use in an art gallery and the perused originals of their favorite artists.

"For now…she's been chasing me down…"

Naruto's face scrunched up with a faraway look in his eyes. "You wouldn't have managed to tick off Ino too did you?"

"Likely…" the Nara drawled.

Suddenly Naruto's face took on purpose, "'cause they're comin' up now!" he spoke quickly.

Shikamaru froze momentarily, but Naruto, used to acting fast to get away after pranks, quickly reached his hand forward and snatched the still genius, yanking him forward. There was nowhere to hide out in the middle of the yard as they were and any attempts to dart to cover would likely _attract_ attention and defeat the purpose. Instead Naruto, yanked Shikamaru's hair tie out while simultaneously shoving the shadow-nin behind him hissing out of the corner of his mouth to crouch down since he was taller than the blonde.

Shikamaru slid against the back of his friend, his mind racing up to Naruto's actions and finding himself bracingly surprised that it was indeed the best plan available as the sounds of two pairs of feet touching down met his ears. Naruto really was the best at thinking on his feet.

"Naruto!" Ino called out shrilly. "Have you seen Shikamaru?!"

Naruto scratched at the back of his head and laughed lightly. Shikamaru could picture the face he was making too, eyes shut with a big smile on his face to deflect any real attempts at analyzation of his emotions by the trained ninja before him. It was a brilliant use of basic Academy techniques to get away with lying by not letting your eyes, which tend to display emotion the best, be easily seen by the enemy. As he sat there, hiding behind Naruto as his friend faced off against the troublesome women who wished to tear a piece out of him, it occurred to him that Naruto had been practicing basic ninja deflection skills his entire life, and since everyone saw him as the bumbling dead last – it _always_ worked. No one ever thought that Naruto paid attention in those classes because he never paid attention in any really – but maybe for that one he didn't have to. Maybe for that one Naruto should have been the teacher.

"Nah…haven't seen him since he visited me in the hospital. Why? You looking for him?" Naruto's scratchy voice lied smoothly to the enraged women.

"Obviously you moron! Where is he?!" Temari's deeper voice responded. Shikamaru tensed and tried to will himself smaller behind Naruto, while he simultaneously forced himself to not move so much as a muscle that would shift the shadow being cast off from Naruto and give away his position. If anyone was going to figure out this makeshift ruse it would be her. If she had a cooler temper she would have been a threat that Shikamaru couldn't have overcome during the exams, especially as she was a strong wind user and Shikamaru frankly sucked at ninjutsu outside of his clan jutsus and he would have had nothing to throw back at her. She usually thought logically and methodically and only tossed it away when she got hot headed. Shikamaru had never really cared about anything enough to become enraged over it, but he thought that given his personality it would likely sharpen his skills to a thin blade edge. He hoped that he would never find out.

"I dunno…" Naruto laughed, the village idiot grin in force on his face. "Did you try any of his look out spots?"

"Look out spots?" Temari asked confused.

Shikamaru sat there in shock. Since when did _Naruto_ know about those?

"For when he looks at the clouds. Boring if you ask me but…Shikamaru." Naruto shrugged while he slipped the Nara's name out there like it answered the unasked question of 'why?'

"I already checked all of the usual places." Ino ground out, clearly pouted if the muffled stomp of her foot against the dirt was anything to go by.

"Um…Ino…" Naruto started slowly, sounding like he was attempting to be cautious. "Shikamaru is smart. Way smarter than the rest of us," Shikamaru had to work rather hard to focus after that because he felt something weird whirling about within him as Naruto spoke, something with a name he didn't yet know, "why would he ever go to a place that you would know to look for him?"

"Well then where the hell are we supposed to look?!" Ino was getting exasperated.

Naruto sighed, "Shikamaru does three things in his spare time. Hang out with Chouji, play shougi and watch clouds. Chouji's in the hospital so that's out. He's too bummed out about Chouji and everyone ending up in the hospital to be able to play shougi right now and enjoy it, so you know he is going to be cloud watching so he can think. If he is not in the normal spots then he has new spots, you just have to go and find them. High, isolated points, likely on the edges of the village where he won't be in anyone's way and no one will come to bother him."

Shikamaru's eyes were wide. Since when did _Naruto_ analyze _him_? How had _he_ missed this?

"Edges of the village…good job twerp." The shifting of feet after Temari's acknowledgement of Naruto's deductions let Shikamaru know that the pair was leaving to go search for him elsewhere.

"I can't believe that worked…" Naruto mumbled after a moment.

"Thanks…" Shikamaru mumbled, straightening himself, his mind still whirring as he struggled to see how he missed this in Naruto. They had known each other since their earliest years in school. How had he not seen this? It would have interested him. He would have been intrigued by the mere notion of someone else thinking this way. Was this a new thing?

He mindlessly redid the pony tail high at the crown of his head with practiced ease, removing his hair from his neck which had started to bead with sweat as he had hid just moments ago.

"Shikamaru…" the voice of Iruka-sensei drifted over from the doorway of the school, clearly amused with the whole situation, "do I even want to know?"

The Nara shrugged, "Girls are troublesome."

"...and scary," Naruto added, tilting up onto his toes with a vicious smirk.

"You're not the one who always gets set up against them!" Shikamaru shot back tersely.

"Not true." Naruto countered, sounding like he was thinking very seriously. "Everyone does. _You're_ just the only one who has a problem with it. So then you complain about it, and focus on it and it convinces you that your own guess is correct and that you _do_ end up fighting them more than others, but you don't, you just _think_ you do." Naruto scratched his head idly with one finger a confused look on his face. "Did that make any sense…?"

Shikamaru and Iruka shared a mildly incredulous look before just nodding to the blonde.

"Yes! Not so stupid now am I?!" The blonde proceeded to perform an impromptu happy dance in the school yard involving a remarkable amount of butt shaking and hoping from one foot to another as though he was over coals, thus reminding them that this was in fact the same Naruto that they remembered.

Iruka shook his head and patted Shikamaru lightly on the shoulder, "Come on, why don't you come with us for some food? Even if they track you down they can't do anything with a chuunin there." A kind smile crinkled the edges of his former teacher's eyes and Shikamaru was frankly tired of hiding and took them up on the offer and watching in shock and regret for Iruka's wallet as Naruto downed bowl after bowl of ramen like he was going to the grave and this was his last chance to consume his "Gift from the Gods!"

After that incident, Shikamaru had begun to spend more and more time around the blonde, who had helped him dodge Temari at least for the remaining few days of her stay in Konoha. Thank god for small favors.

But Ino was a teammate, and the daughter of one of his father's best friends, could not be avoided unfortunately.

He had paid for months for that wild goose chase that day.

But it had been totally worth it.

That whole debacle had opened up his eyes a bit to Naruto. He wasn't just an old friend from childhood, or the dead last of their class, or a prankster.

Naruto was a ninja who would go far, farther than Shikamaru himself would likely ever manage, though to be fair it was unlikely that the Nara was ever going to try. He just wanted a nice, normal, average life. One that he could retire from. Retirement was something of a pipe dream for ninjas as it was so Shikamaru thought that he was already setting a rather lofty goal for himself just by saying that.

Naruto just laughed at him when Shikamaru shared it with him. "But won't you be bored?" He had asked.

Shikamaru shrugged, "Bored and alive, entertained and dead – I see mine as the better option."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I think there are more than two options there…I plan on being entertained and alive personally." A massive smile had threaded across his face. "I will be the Hokage and take care of all of the people of this Hidden Leaf Village." He said swinging his arms wide to encompass the amazing view from the top of the Hokage Monument where they had gone to let Shikamaru enjoy the clouds on a nice viewing day.

Shikamaru didn't provide an answer and instead looked up towards the perfect white fluffy clouds drifting by. He was looking but he wasn't focusing.

Did Naruto just call him out on a logical fallacy? Fair enough, he had a point, but the Uzumaki still called him out on it. And since when did he shift from wanting to be Hokage so that everyone would respect him, to wanting to become the Hokage to protect everyone? That showed a sudden jump in maturity that just conflicted with every notion of Naruto that Shikamaru had ever constructed for himself about the blonde.

There had been this burning little pit in his stomach for the last few months, not a physical pain, but an uncomfortable one and it only increased with every encounter with the blonde. It was a passive anxiety he finally realized. He couldn't figure out this puzzle that was Naruto Uzumaki. He couldn't figure out the sudden change in his friend. And it was driving him a bit crazy that he couldn't do it.

He was spending an inordinate amount of time and effort on it too.

It was seriously un-Nara-like the amount of time he spent worrying about it.

It would be _easier_ to just come out and ask him.

Shikamaru's thought process shuddered to a stop.

Why _didn't_ he just ask Naruto?

Shikamaru sat up suddenly and shocked Naruto with the sudden movement out of his typically lethargic friend.

"You alright Shikamaru?" He asked cautiously.

Again – since when was Naruto cautious?

"Why have you changed so much?" Shikamaru looked dead at Naruto, the confusion ever present in his eyes as he met a wary blue. "You weren't like this in Academy. It's not a bad change…but I've been trying to figure out where it came from and I'm coming up with nothing."

Naruto gaped for a minute with furrowed brows before pulling himself together and sitting a little straighter, meeting Shikamaru's gaze head on.

His eyes were unlike anything Shikamaru had seen from the blonde before.

They were smart. Enquiring. He was studying Shikamaru like the Nara was a lab specimen. Shikamaru began to squirm under the intense nature of the scrutiny and suddenly wondered if he actually wanted to know the true answer to his question.

There was a desperate nature to the look now and Shikamaru felt his heart pounding more intensely than it had in any battle that he had ever been in. Shikamaru wanted to tear his eyes away, suddenly positive that he had stepped in something far deeper than he had realized and started to feel that weightlessness of freefall, his limbs tingling as he swallowed deeply.

"How troublesome is it to keep a secret Shikamaru?" Naruto asked quietly, eyes still locked on to his friend's.

"It depends on the secret. And who I have to keep it from." Shikamaru replied, his voice disturbingly shaky.

"Everyone." Naruto said solemnly. "It's an S-class secret…though I would think you should be told of it soon enough as a chuunin."

Naruto finally broke the gaze and Shikamaru took in a shuddering breath.

"Should you be telling me it if it's such an important secret?"

Naruto snorted. "It's got to be the worst kept secret in all of Konoha. The only people who don't know are our age or younger. Everyone else, civilian and ninja alike, are in on the secret – they just can't talk about it." Naruto laughed dryly, seemingly studying his ankles as he played with the rubber of his sandals. "I'm one of the few allowed to talk about it – it's technically my secret to tell anyway."

Shikamaru's mild whirled. "This is about the way everyone treated you as a kid." It wasn't a question, the Nara knew. This conversation was going to answer the questions that he had started asking back in his earliest Academy days when he saw the way that people would treat the young blonde orphan in a manner so callous that it couldn't possibly be in response to the occasional pranks that Naruto would perform.

Naruto smiled, but there was no happiness in his eyes and he dragged them back up to meet Shikamaru's. This time all he could see within them was the sheer loneliness and despair that Naruto had been struggling against all his life when he threw out those cheeky grins. This was what was behind those closed eyelids. This was what he had never wanted the world to see about himself.

"I'm serious about this Shikamaru. You can't tell anyone. Not Chouji, not Ino. You shouldn't even talk about it to Asuma-sensei or your parents. It's something everyone _knows_ but no one talks about."

Shikamaru nodded his head after a moment of contemplation. He had to know. He had been asking these questions for years and he _had_ to get some kind of answer. He wasn't running away when it was right in front of him. "I promise Naruto."

Naruto took a deep breath. "I was born the night that the Kyuubi attacked the village." Shikamaru nodded, vaguely remembered that Naruto's birthday was in that month, but forgetting the exact day. "When the Fourth Hokage fought the Kyuubi, he dragged it away from the village and did the only thing he could to stop the rampage – he sealed it away."

Shikamaru felt a foreboding feeling sweep through his body like a bucket of ice water had just been dumped upon his head, but like it had been slicked with oil making what should have been a wave of refreshing understanding and dirtying it, making Shikamaru actually feel dirty at the knowledge he somehow already knew was coming. He refused though to let his mind jump ahead and instead focused on Naruto with unheard of intensity.

"He sealed the Kyuubi into the body of a new born baby." Naruto stopped and looked at Shikamaru with a guarded glance, but the Nara didn't move or say anything so he continued. "Into me. On the day that I was born, the nine-tailed fox was sealed within me."

Naruto looked away then, physically shifting and turning his back towards the Nara a bit to give the boy time to process through the new information. All the hateful glares, the parent's tugging their children away from a young Naruto who was doing nothing but playing alone in the sand, the teachers who would send Naruto out of the room on some trumped up infraction during the most important parts of the lesson.

Shikamaru sighed, and laid back down, linking his fingers behind his head. "This village is full of idiots."

Naruto turned back around and glanced at Shikamaru in question. "They think you're a demon when you are so incredibly human it hurts. Your body is a jail, and your will is the warden. No way are you a demon yourself. You're way too nice a guy. You don't have a malevolent bone in your body."

The sheer relief that slipped over Naruto's face was palpable. Shikamaru had to swallow against the sudden lump in his throat at how damn _happy_ the Uzumaki looked to have Shikamaru understand. He quietly laid back down next to Shikamaru and looked up at the sky. "They aren't all idiots." He said after a while.

Shikamaru glanced at him incredulously. "They are just scared. You saw Gaara at the Chuunin exams. He is the same as me. They thought that I was like him, or would be like him. Just like he couldn't fully stand against the one-tail, they feared the day that I wouldn't be able to hold back the nine-tail. They had seen the destruction it caused the first time around. I don't blame them."

Shikamaru shook his head. "You are a Saint. You have my vote for Hokage already."

They lapsed into silence again before Shikamaru spoke once more. "You didn't know why when we were kids. I could see the frustration on your face every time they acted on their fear. And you've started to change since you left the Academy. Did you find out after you left?"

"Mizuki." Was all Naruto said.

Ah, their traitorous sensei. Shikamaru had never liked him. He had clearly disliked children – why the fuck did he work so hard to try and get a position at the school?

"So that's why. I realized that I needed to smarten up, especially after the mission in Wave Country. That day should have ended up so much worse than it did but for sheer dumb luck. I don't want to risk the life of any of my friends ever again. So I will get strong enough to protect everyone."

And Shikamaru really believed that he could do it too, for the first time he honestly saw Naruto becoming the Hokage. One that he would happily serve.

By the time that Jiraiya finally returned to take Naruto away on the promised training trip, the pair had grown into close friends and Shikamaru was conflicted. He didn't want to see his friend go. As long as Naruto was within sight, he was alright, Shikamaru could see that. But Shikamaru knew that Naruto had to leave. With Akatsuki out there, looking for the demon containers, including Naruto, he knew intellectually that it was safer for everyone for Naruto's position to be difficult to pin down. And Jiraiya would help Naruto get strong and maybe gain some control over Kyuubi's power.

Shikamaru could never decide if that was a good thing or not, having seen what using the power did to his friend.

"It's better for me to get control though, to be able to stop the Kyuubi when he tries to take control himself."

The thought that Naruto battled mentally against this malevolent being terrified Shikamaru. But if anyone would be able to push back against it, Naruto could. He had strength beyond what normal people could fathom.

"You have to promise Naruto."

The blonde groaned. "But I suck at writing."

Shikamaru shook his head, his face serious as they stood at the gates of Konoha waiting on Jiraiya to show up and set them off on their trek. "I'm not expecting a novel Naruto. Just an update so I know that you're okay. Tell me how strong you're getting."

Naruto smirked. "I'll be stronger than the pervert before you know it!"

Shikamaru chuckled and let out a light laugh. "I'll hold you to that."

Naruto nodded sagely, before sobering himself. "Don't go getting your lazy ass killed Shikamaru." His voice was uncharacteristically calm, with an underlying sense of _something_ that Shikamaru had been struggling to sort out for months now but he'd run out of time.

"Back at you Naruto," Shikamaru said quietly biting his lip as he studied his feet when Jiraiya arrived, bellowing loudly about research as Tsunade's fist twitched on her wrist.

"Gaki! Most guys have their girlfriends see them off!" The old sage jested, bonking a loose fist down on the blonde's shoulder.

Naruto dropped his shoulder immediately causing the sannin to overbalance and need to catch himself before face-planting in the dirt. "'Bout you perv? I don't see a girlfriend. Just Granny who is looking forward to you being gone for while so she can go to the baths in peace." Naruto retorted with a peaked eyebrow.

Shikamaru's well fought blush turned at the insinuation that he was Naruto's girlfriend turned into a chuckle as Tsunade flashed his friend a subtle thumbs up to which Naruto responded with a comedic bow. "Milady," he intoned, his voice infused with as pompous a feeling as possible.

Naruto received a sullen glare from his teacher but an amused hair ruffle from his leader in response.

With a sigh Jiraiya hitched the large scroll he carried up on his shoulders and announced that they were ready to take off.

Shikamaru shoved a small package into Naruto's hands as the blonde turned back to him. "Paper, pens and postage. You have no excuse." And seized by some urge unfamiliar to him but stronger than any inclination to stop himself, Shikamaru wrapped his arms around his friend's shoulders and squeezed, whispering with almost frightening intensity into his ear, "Come _back_!" The just as earnest _please_ remained unsaid but hovered between them as the Nara stepped back from Naruto, hands shoved firmly back into his pockets to hide his clenching fists, containing fingers that yearned to grab his friend back into his arms and not let go.

Shikamaru watched Naruto walk out of the village and down the long path through the woods, and he remained there long after the former dead last had faded from sight.

A longing for his friend had already begun to settle in the pit of his stomach and as a clawing sensation in his chest that alerted the young genius to a fact that he could no longer even attempt to ignore.

He had a crush on Naruto.

The same Naruto who had stiffened as the Nara hugged him and sent a mere half-smile the shadow-ninja's way as he quietly slipped out of the gate behind his legendary teacher.

He groaned and tugged on his pony tail in aggravation and turned to slouch away from the gate, ignoring the knowing glances of the Hokage and her assistant who had remained there with him.

What a fucking time to actually realize it. As the blonde becomes lost to him for the foreseeable future.

Well…nothing else he could do about it now. He wouldn't get to see Naruto again for years. He could only wait.

So imagine his surprise when a letter was delivered three weeks later with a familiar scrawl across the front.

Shikamaru felt like he must have been channeling Ino somehow as he had dashed off to his room without explanation to his parents, clutching the message like a lifeline and tearing into it once he had safely closed the door behind him.

_Shikamaru,_

_Writing has really never been my thing but I can try._

_We've left Fire Country for now, but _The Perv _says I can't tell you anything more in case this gets lost along the way._

Shikamaru laughed quietly at Naruto's reference to one of the strongest ninja to ever come out of the Hidden Leaf. He shook his head for a moment and continued reading.

_I don't know how to say this next part…so I'll just say it as best I can and hope it makes sense to you. It was weird when you hugged me._

Shikamaru's eyes drifted closed as he bit his lip before wrenching them open and forcing himself to continue.

_People don't hug me. You are the fourth person to ever do it after Ayame-neesan, Granny and Iruka-sensei. You're the first person my age to do it. So it was weird._

…_but good? _

_I dunno what to feel about it, but I didn't feel bad that you did it and it was nice, just weird._

_Why did you do that? You're not a hugging kind of guy. I have an idea, but I will keep it for now._

What followed were instructions to leave any letters for Naruto with Tsunade who would send them with whatever ninja was sent out to collect information from Jiraiya who was still working his spy network as he trained Naruto.

_Tell everyone that I said hey and can't wait to see how strong they are when I come back._

_And Shikamaru…thanks. Just thanks!_

_Naruto_

It wasn't wordy, but it slammed a whole lot of information into Shikamaru's head. Things like – Naruto had liked the hug, but was confused by that. And Naruto was sorely lacking in physical touch when it wasn't fighting it would seem (he had noticed Naruto tensing slightly as the adults continually seemed to ruffle his hair as though the boy was a puppy). Naruto might already know that Shikamaru liked him _that way_. And most importantly – Naruto wanted to keep writing with his chuunin friend, because he had explained how to go about getting in contact in the future.

Shikamaru read through the message again and smiled, before going to his desk and pulling out materials to write his own return letter.

This continued on for the remainder of Naruto's travels, though they continued to dance around the issue of affection for each other, they both knew what neither had said, nor technically written, themselves. Ninjas had to be good at reading between the lines after all.

He knew he had it bad though when he walked into the Hokage's office one day, on a routine stop in to drop off paperwork for the upcoming chuunin exams, and there was his Naruto. His outfit had changed slightly and he finally had seen substantial growth, literally inching out Shikamaru if you didn't include the shadow-nin's gravity-defying hair, and a floating sense around the ninja of accomplishment and ability. He knew that Naruto had been training hard, just as all of them had been, but now he could see the fruits of that labor.

And he liked it.

He had quirked an eyebrow in appreciation of the view and smirked at the light blush that had ghosted across the blonde's cheeks.

Naruto was home.

But before they could do anything more, Naruto was off, racing to try and save the Kazekage from the Akatsuki.

The second Naruto had come home, still alive and unscathed, Shikamaru had repeated his action from years earlier, but with far more force, crushing the blonde into an embrace – both of them now understanding with unfortunate certainty the fate that awaited Naruto should Akatsuki ever get their hands on him, and knowing there wouldn't be someone to bring him back to life at the sacrifice of their own because no one else knew the jutsu that Chiyo had executed. Naruto had waited until _this moment_ to finally cave under that pressured understanding. Trembling slightly in Shikamaru's hold as the man rubbed comforting circles on the normally hyperactive ninja's back, Naruto hic-cupped softly, trying to keep back tears of fear and frustration.

Shikamaru for his part just hung on, trying to sooth tattered nerves.

Then he said it. For the first time out loud. Needing to say it now so that he knew Naruto had heard him. So no matter what the future held, he hadn't been a coward and had told Naruto the truth. "I love you." He whispered in quiet assurance.

Naruto had nodded into the shadow-nin's neck, pulling the man tighter into the embrace, unable to push anything past the lump in his throat and trusting Shikamaru to understand.

They were looking for an apartment to share the next day.

It was a month before Naruto finally said it, with all the trappings of a movie, dragging the Nara to a field of flowers, which happened to be a favorite cloud watching spot, and pulling out a picnic lunch, surprisingly _not_ ramen, and the presentation of the keys to their new apartment that had just been collected from the realtor.

"I love you Shikamaru," he had slipped out softly, a gentle touch laying against Shikamaru's wrist, just a barest touch of fingertips before a soft kiss fell upon his lips and Shikamaru couldn't help but smile into the action, mildly awe-struck at the knowledge that this was really happening.

And they walked back to their new _home_, sneaking glances at each other as they walked the streets of Konoha only to dart their eyes away when the other caught them, earning a tug up at the corners of their mouths at their antics. By the time they reached their new place their smiles practically met their eyes and it seemed like the world was perfect if only for that day.

And when Shiho should up on the doorstep the very next day, ready with a housewarming gift and yet another confession, Naruto had answered the door with a confused grumble, neither of them having told anyone the move was official yet. Naruto rubbed sleep from his eyes as he looked on at the cryptologist that he had never had the opportunity to meet yet while Shikamaru remain laying in their bed listening in the darkness of their room.

Twin, "Who are you?" responses made a smile tick at his mouth.

Naruto yawned loudly. "Naruto. I live here." He answered shortly.

A gaping sound escape Shiho as though she was opening and closing her mouth repeatedly as she search for words. "Shiho. I was looking for Shikamaru Nara. I thought he lived here now."

"He does. He's sleeping. Can I help you?"

"I brought a housewarming gift…"

"Cool. Thanks." There was a shuffling noise where clearly Naruto was taking the gift from its giver. After another long pause, Naruto continued, "Something else?"

"Uh…"

"Cool. I'm going back to sleep. Thanks for the gift and see you around."

The door was shut firmly without a reply.

Naruto's feet shuffled against the wooden floor of their apartment as he moved back towards their bedroom. Technically the apartment had two bedrooms, with beds in them, but the pair had shared anyway because saying the words I love you and going to a brand new home where you slept in different rooms – no. Just no.

Shikamaru's cracked eyes saw a bemused expression on Naruto's face as the ninja came in and tossed the wrapped present down on the bed next to Shikamaru before climbing over the man and back onto his own side of the bed.

"Did she think it was Christmas?" He grumbled, referencing the bright sparkly red wrapping paper that had covered the gift.

Shikamaru snickered and in curiosity tore at the wrapping, dropping the paper to the floor to be dealt with later. Opening the box within, he stared for a moment before he started laughing bodily, every muscle in his body tensing up with the exertion of expelling his amusement. He just passed the box to Naruto as he wiped tears out of the corner of his eyes.

Naruto looked in the box and his eyebrows hiked, slowing turning to meet the gaze of the mirthfully weeping Shikamaru. He slowly reached in a hand and pulled out a piece of the fancy lingerie that had been inside, holding it with just his fingertips as though they were something infectious. "So…there is a story here yes? Something you forgot to mention in your letters?"

Shikamaru gasped, trying to stop his laughter. "Shiho. Cryptologist." He coughed out by way of introduction.

Naruto nodded. While he had been gone, Tsunade had clearly started to groom Shikamaru for a position in intelligence and strategy. It would make sense that he was interacting with the cryptology department regularly.

Shikamaru sat up to help even out his breathing and sighed happily, laughter still trying to bubble up. "She's…got a crush on me."

Naruto snickered, gesturing to the box in his hand. "Only a crush?"

Shikamaru, "Remember how you used to act with Sakura?"

The blonde cringed at the memory of how he had behaved as a child. He had fixated on the first girl to ever show him kindness, and even though she had followed the crowd later and ganged up against him in school, he would still remember the pink haired girl who had asked him what was wrong when he sat all alone on a swing, fighting back tears as another child had been yelled at by their parents just for playing with him.

He had thankfully grown out of that obsession and could just be friends with his teammate now, for which she was grateful as well.

Shikamaru continued, "She's basically the female version of that, but quieter than you. She doesn't announce to the world. Just to me." He thought for a moment and added, "Repeatedly."

Naruto nodded slowly, smirking.

Shikamaru smacked him lightly on his bare shoulder. "Don't be annoying."

Naruto snorted, tugging Shikamaru against his side as he tossed the package to the floor amidst the remains of its wrappings. "Totally with the wrong guy for that."

Shikamaru smiled though, wrapping his long arms around Naruto's tanned torso. "Troublesome. But totally worth it."

About a week later they had been grocery shopping in the town market and were just finishing up when they noticed Shiho across the square, trying to secretly watch the pair.

Shikamaru sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Hey hey!" Naruto whispered, an excited edge to his voice. "I have an idea. But it's one of those Naruto Uzumaki ideas that's a little more intense than it probably needs to be."

"Anything getting blown up?"

"In literal terms no."

"Figurative terms?"

"Figurative uteruses."

Shikamaru quirked his head to the side trying to sort through that comment but leaving it be for now.

"Repercussions for this?"

"Everyone will know about us."

Shikamaru took in a breath. His parents and teammates knew, and he knew that Naruto had told Sakura and his teachers. But the town as a whole. Hostility towards Naruto had ended for the most part, but most people still kept the blonde at a distance and they didn't know how they would react to the pair of them.

But dammit if it wouldn't be nice.

This is what Naruto did to him. Made him do things without thinking everything through to the nth conclusion.

Instead the shadow-ninja grabbed Naruto by the shoulders and crushed their lips together, relishing in the feeling that others enjoyed without thought – kissing their loved one in public.

His hands drifted up to cup the blonde's jawline as Naruto's own hands settled gently against the Nara's own waist, pressing just enough into the flesh of his lower back that Shikamaru could feel their miniscule tremble alerting him that Naruto was actually a little more antsy about the idea that he himself had come up with than his partner was. Shikamaru slipping a comforting hand into Naruto's hair, dragging his nails lightly against scalp in a gesture that seemed to calm Naruto down.

They pulled back at the sound of a large crash. Turns out Shiho had passed out against the crates that she had been hiding behind, causing them to topple over to the ground. A wolf whistle and a lone pair of clapping hands followed and they realized that Kiba has also been present in the square as they started their little show. The smile on his face told the pair that he was happy for them. The mischief in the dog-nin's eyes told them that the rest of Konoha would know but tomorrow. Kiba was the only gossip in town bigger than Ino.

But the pair smiled, reclaimed their groceries that they had dropped on the ground near their feet when their little show began, and headed off. Naruto threw a cheery waved towards his friend and settled his arm on Shikamaru's shoulders which Shikamaru countered with a light elbow to Naruto's side. He wasn't a girl dammit.

Things were looking up. For the first time in a while, everything just seemed to be falling into place.

But the world wasn't perfect, especially not for ninja.

As soon as Naruto found out about Asuma he was right there at Shikamaru's side, holding the normally stoic teen as tears streamed down his cheeks and rage lashed out. Naruto went to the funeral that Shikamaru couldn't stomach.

"I left two flowers – from both of us."

And Naruto had been there to back up his team when Shikamaru had ended the run of the man who had taken Asuma from the world.

And when Naruto was in his same position, mourning the loss of a teacher so close they had become family, especially to one not blessed with his own, he knew what to do to get the blonde back up on his feet. Encouraging him to keep his head up high and continue on fighting, using the information that Jiraiya had managed to return to them to see that he had not died in vain.

Shikamaru pushed Naruto to go and start his sage training, grateful that Naruto would be hidden away and safe from Akatsuki grasping hands. And when Pein rained down terror from above, Shikamaru's thought as he dove for cover was being eternally grateful that Naruto wasn't there to experience the horror.

He nearly screamed in terror and outrage as the message was conveyed that Naruto was battling Pein alone in the hollowed out remnants of their beloved home. Somewhere in the rubble was the apartment that they had, the first something to belong to the both of them, was shattered along with all the places that they had gone on dates and spent time with their friends. His father had to physically restrain him from trying to take off into that pit of what once used to be their fair village, broken leg or not.

He could only place his faith in Naruto to pull another victory out of his hat. To do yet another impossible thing, to add to his ever growing list of impossible accomplishments. To please, _please_ let him survive. And so he had focused the minds of those around him to try and figure out the mystery of Pein and they had helped to organize and keep the village going and fighting in whatever way they could while Naruto took on the most pressing burden himself.

As the blonde had come out of the forest, almost limp in exhaustion against the back and shoulders of his sensei Shikamaru had wanted to cry out of relief and joy and a thousand other emotions.

But pride.

He had so much pride for the man. As the village collectively held up Naruto as their hero, as they admired his skills and abilities and sheer fighting drive, Shikamaru just thought, _You did it_. And a sense of calm serenity settled inside of his chest. He leaned against Chouji's side as the village gave full uproarious acknowledgment of what had once been the loneliest little boy in Konoha who had now pulled all of the village into his own family, and his heart was big enough to encompass all of them.

Shikamaru had told his friend to settle him down at the edge of the trees and he watched Naruto interact with the villagers, trying to accept what seemed like a drastic turnaround to them both.

Finally, Naruto's exhaustion got the better of him and he walked over and settled next to Shikamaru who had since had his leg splinted and sent well on its way to recovery by a medi-nin and had remained waiting for Naruto to separate himself from the throngs of adoring villagers.

With the full knowledge out there of the pair's relationship, they were given a wide berth by the villagers who were now trying to figure out where to begin with the rubble and where exactly they might be sleeping tonight.

"You alright?" Naruto asked quietly, gesturing tiredly towards his boyfriend's leg.

"A break, but I'll be fine soon enough." Shikamaru leaned lightly into Naruto's side, needing to feel the man beside him, physical confirmation that he was really there and not a pain-riddled dream that he would soon be pulled from by bleak reality. "You?"

"Tired." And he sounded it. He sounded more run down than Shikamaru could ever remember hearing.

Shikamaru sighed and pushed himself up, using a tree to balance himself in lieu of a crutch that he hadn't secured yet.

"Come on. We're going to bed."

Nature gestured widely at the crumbled walls of their village. "Where? Our place is gone. Where are we going to sleep tonight?"

Shikamaru smiled and held out his hand. "We have another place."

Naruto looked in tired confusion at the man but slipped his hand into the familiar palm and dragged himself to his feet.

Using a combination of trees and Naruto's shoulder for balance Shikamaru led him back through the trees. Neither spoke, with Naruto too tired and Shikamaru too concentrated on balance.

After a few minutes the trees started to clear and Naruto looked up and realized where they were headed. The smallest of smiles crept across his face as he put Shikamaru's arm around his shoulder to allow the shadow-nin to relax just a tiny bit and began to lead the way to the clearing. The clearing where Naruto had first said _those_ words. Where they key to their life together had been placed into his hands. A key that still resided in his pocket and he thought he would keep for the rest of his life, even if the lock it belonged to was long since gone.

The pair stumbled into the grass covering the small hill, and finally fell asleep, hands clasped tightly throughout the night.

The very same clearing that they were relaxing in now.

Shikamaru's laugh subsided as he used his thumb to wipe at the corner of his eyes before tears could escape. He only ever got this way around Naruto. He never let down his guard around anyone else enough to ever imagine that he might be able to laugh so openly with them.

He gasped back some air into his lungs and leaned forward, pushing on Naruto's shoulders and sending the man onto his back, in that same clearing as all of those years ago.

"You might have a point." He whispered huskily, his lips millimeters above Naruto's which were curved into a smirk and gentle hands encased Shikamaru's shoulders.

"Yeah?" Naruto's voice had deepened a bit, the scratchiness shifting into a tone that Shikamaru knew so well and he could feel his body starting to respond already.

"But I think mine are a little different." He muttered, still hovering, a smirk of his own tugging on his face. "I seem to attract troublesome blondes."

Naruto snorted, before leaning up and capturing Shikamaru's lips with his own.

"Troublesome am I?" He asked when they separated.

Shikamaru sighed happily, leaning his forehead against Naruto's and looking deep into the blonde's eyes. "You're the only one worth it though. I would take on all of the trouble of the world for you."

Naruto smiled serenely. "You know how corny that sounded…" He spoke softly even as a hungry sort of gaze was beginning to enter his sky blue eyes.

"Only for you." Shikamaru quirked an eyebrow and the evening turned into another of many to remember. A celebration of the companionship and love that they each had found in the other, even though neither of them would have thought to look there in the first place.

It was amazing though. There might have been something to Naruto's theory. If it wasn't for troublesome blonde girls, this whole thing between them might never have happened at all.

So whether it was a pheromone or sheer dumb luck, Shikamaru would take it.

Because even as a ninja he had managed to find his little bit of perfection.

End

So there it was. The longest yet one-shot out of this series and I hope that you all sincerely enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I did cut a part out of it that I am going to use as a part of a different one-shot, but it still needs a lot of work before I post anything.

And please – leave a review. The favorites and alerts are nice, but reviews help me know what it was that you liked about the story so that hopefully I can improve in later stories and make them even better.


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